Within the process of Supply Network Planning strategic decisions regarding the design of a supply network are taken. This includes structural decisions regarding the number, size, location and configuration of production and distribution facilities within the supply network as well as policies on the management of the entire network. Therefore these decisions set the framework for operational decisions and have a great impact on the economic performance of a company.

Within the past decades the problem has been extended from the simple uncapacitated plant location problem (UPLP) to exhaustive global supply chain design problems by integrating multiple-product allocation, capacity sizing and technology selection problems as well as several international features such as exchange rates and tariffs.